Thought by many to be the greatest lead singer ever in bluegrass music, Carter Stanley had a mournful, plaintive sound that could transport a listener back in time and across the miles to the Virginia mountains where he grew up. His ability to write songs like “The White Dove,” “The Fields Have Turned Brown”, and “The Lonesome River” only enhanced his effectiveness as a singer. He died young, at age forty-one, but his influence still continues in 2016, with singers that emulate his style and bands that record the songs he wrote. Between the years of 1958 and 1965, the Stanley Brothers made recordings in Cincinnati for the King label, and performed often in southwestern Ohio. They were elected to the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2015, Gary Reid developed a one-man theatrical performance: A Life of Sorrow—the Life and Times of Carter Stanley, which was performed at the OTR Pub in Cincinnati, other venues in Ohio, and other states. In 2013, Lonesome Melodies, a biography of the Stanley Brothers by David W. Johnson, was published by University Press of Mississippi. Gary Reid’s The Music of the Stanley Brothers was released by University of Illinois Press in 2015, and he is currently working on a book about Carter Stanley.
STANLEY, CARTER GLEN (1925-1966)